We would like to thank Cambridge University Press for
allowing us to make the draft book available online, which
facilitated much of the feedback we have received while
writing the book. We also thank Lauren Cowles, who has been
an outstanding editor, providing several rounds of comments
on each chapter, on matters of style, organization, and
coverage, as well as detailed comments on the subject matter
of the book. To the extent that we have achieved our goals
in writing this book, she deserves an important part of the credit.

And finally there were a few reviewers who absolutely stood
out in terms of the quality and quantity of comments that
they provided. We thank them for their significant impact
on the content and structure of the book. We express our
gratitude to
Pavel Berkhin, Stefan Büttcher, Jamie Callan, Byron Dom, Torsten Suel, and
Andrew Trotman.

Parts of the initial drafts of nbayessvm
were based on slides that were generously provided by Ray
Mooney. While the material has gone through extensive
revisions, we gratefully acknowledge Ray's contribution to
the three chapters in general and to the description of the time
complexities of text classification algorithms in
particular.

The above is unfortunately an incomplete list: we are still in the
process of incorporating feedback we have received.
And, like all opinionated authors, we did not always heed the advice that was
so freely given. The published versions of the chapters remain
solely the responsibility of the authors.

The authors thank Stanford University and the University of
Stuttgart for providing a stimulating academic environment for
discussing ideas and the opportunity to teach courses from which
this book arose and in which its contents were refined. CM thanks his
family for the many hours they've let him spend working on this book,
and hopes he'll have a bit more free time on weekends next year.
PR thanks his family for their patient
support through the writing of this book and is also
grateful to Yahoo! Inc. for providing a fertile environment
in which to work on this book. HS would like to thank his parents,
family, and friends for their support while writing this book.